"A híres művész hajókra, autókra, hidakra és járdákra is fest."
Translation:The famous artist paints onto ships, cars, bridges and also sidewalks.
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There's a funny difference between English and Hungarian here. I don't think I would ever say "onto" in this context. I would say "on" instead, which could mean either that he is painting while standing on the object in question, or else that he is painting and using the object as a surface on which to paint.
Usually, when you say "he paints on the paper" or even "he paints on the window", it's clear he's using it as a surface; while if you say "he paints on the boat", it's clear that he's using it as a platform. Of course, the latter is not what this sentence is saying. I'll have to think about how I would express this.
Agreed. You simply can't say "paints onto boats" etc., only "paints ON boats"
How you could express this is "The famous artist paints ships, cars, bridges and also sidewalks." However, this does not convey that the artist paints murals or could be a graffiti vandal, because the artist could be working in maintenance or conservation. Never mind that the artist could be painting pictures of these vehicles and structures on canvas. So, "onto" is less ambiguous.
If "on" were to be used instead of "onto", then the artist could be on the vehicles as a passenger or on the structures as a pedestrian and painting pictures on canvas while there, without putting any paint onto the vehicles or structures themselves.
In addition to the issue with "also" and "too", here "ships" is rejected (usually boat is not accepted)
the famous artist paints boats, cars, bridges and pavements too? different meaning?
That would be : "A híres művész hajókat, autókat, hidakat és járdákat is fest."
...the famous artist paints boats, cars, bridges and pavements too? different meaning?...
---------- yes. this means that the artist paints pictures containing boats, etc . . .
Not only that. Paints on ships = paints something on a ship, perhaps just some spots or letters. Paints ships = covers its full surface with paint or polyurea, e.g. as corrosion protection. And right, it can also be a painting, showing a ship.
Honestly that's most likely how I would say this in English, unless it seemed to require clarification, since in my experience people who apply paint to the exterior of those things are more common than people who paint pictures of them.
I'm not at all sure that I know the difference between "also sidewalks" and "sidewalks too". I think I understand that "és járdakra is" being tacked onto the sentence means that there is something special about sidewalks, like "even sidewalks" or "sidewalks as well" , but I don't understand how the "is" is specific to sidewalks. Is it that "és" separates sidewalks from the other objects in the sentence? Anyone?
I think that the acceptance of 'also' and 'too' in this course is pretty random. It's one of the flaws of the beta version, probably it will get fixed. The position of 'is' is tricky, I haven't quite figured it out yet, so I'm also curious.
Second thing: hajók is usually translated as ships and here it suddenly becomes boats and ships is not accepted. I think that such cases should be eliminated because it encourages looking at the hints, even if you don't need them.
------- onto boats, but now i can't repeat onto cars ? nor onto bridges ? nor onto sidewalks ? does repeating the preposition onto change the meaning ?
Big 16 dec 17
1404
It does not. Repeating the preposition is grammatically fine, but it sounds pretty awkward.
- 588
This is NOT English... I don't even know what it is supposed to mean. Is he applying paint to those objects or is he going from boats to cars to bridges to sidewalks? This sentence is means NOTHING in English. Seriously.
- 681
As far as i understand it, "fest valamiRE" refers to the surface you are aplying paint, "fest valamiT" is what your painting depicts, and "fest valamiN" (or whatever valami+en/on is) is what you or the object are standing on when u paint. So, for instance, "autot festek a pohara az asztalan" means you put the picture of a car onto a glass which was on a table at the time of your painting.
Still not accepting "pavements", which is the usual word in British English.
-------- a hi'd = the bridge. i' = long i . there are many words in hungarian that have a long i' . it's a throwback to before coming into the carpathian basin and it was pronounced differently, too. it was a back vowel, back then, and so, today, hi'vni goes to hi'vom, hi'd to hi'dak stb . just have to memorize it where it appears . . .
Big 30 nov 18
Now it is getting irritating. I put "The famous artist paints on ships, on cars, on bridges and also on pavements." There is nothing wrong with that answer but the computer wouldn't accept it. I've reported it.
The english translation is awkward; it should be "paints on" not "paints onto".
- 729
This sentence is utter nonsense. Maybe it makes complete sense in Hungarian, but in English it is NOT a natural sentence. This is by far the worst translation I have ever seen.
Why is it nonsense? Putting aside the word "onto," which grates a little but not much, it's fine isn't it? We can have a famous artist who paints on these things. If that's what happens, here's your first conversational sentence in an art gallery in Budapest.
- 2087
As is the case frustratingly often in the Hungarian course, the English translations are awkward or unnatural. "Paints onto" isn't a natural phrase in English; a native English speaker would always say "paints on" in this sentence.
Just a memory exercise. This time I put "The famous artist paints onto ships, onto cars, onto bridges and also onto pavements." The computer still wouldn't accept it! The only solution with this one is to remember what the computer wants and parrot it. Very irritating.
- 411
Do you mean that the artist actually paints the bridges, etc OR do you mean the artists paint (a portrait, etc) on the bridges, etc. OR do you mean the artist actually paints the cars, bridges, etc. It is a poorly constructed sentence in English which makes translation exceedingly difficult. Can you tell me what the Hungarian actually means in English?
The crucial bit with this sentence is the use of "ra." It denotes both movement, (which painting requires) as well as onto, (although I agree with everyone here who has said that painting onto sounds odd in English. Painting on is better). We're not told what the artist paints but we might assume they're pictures or designs of some description and the artist is quite simply painting them on(to) those things: boats, cars bridges and (in British English) pavements, too. That's all it means.
